I'm Giving Away My Birthday

This year for my 33rd birthday I've decided that instead of asking for gifts, I'm asking for $33 or more from everyone to build freshwater wells for people in developing nations. I am doing this through the charity: water organization. You can find my project at http://mycharitywater.org/bbq.

I have been very impressed by the charity: water organization. Charity: water gives 100% of all its public donations directly to water project costs, and each donation is "proved" and tracked to the village it helped when projects are complete.

A billion people in the world are living without clean water. Millions contract deadly diseases from contaminated water. 45,000 people will die this week alone. The lucky ones won't, but still walk hours each day to get dirty water to give to their families.

My birthday wish this year is not for more gifts; it's to give clean and safe drinking water to some of the billion living without it.

I learned about this charity from the daughter of some very good friends of ours that is getting married soon. They put up a website detailing the wedding logistics. The site showed when, where, had engagement pictures and so forth. My wife and I looked at the section for the gift registry and found something I had never seen before. The couple elected to have everyone give to a charity instead of buy them presents. They are a good middle class american family. They are doing fine but, speaking from experience, when you are starting life out together it is nice to have wedding presents. This is the first thing that touched me: the selfless nature of this wonderful couple, especially during a time that should be focused on them.

Due to this feeling, I immediately followed the links to see how I could donate a little bit. The charity they chose to donate to was charity: water. After reading a little bit about this charity I was very impressed. I asked my wife how much we could donate. She said that she had $20 left over in the grocery checking account that she would donate. Our kids were in the room while we discussed it. Our 9 year old daughter spoke up and said, "I have $5 that I can give." (This is the point when a parents heart wells up.) All the kids then came over to see what we were doing. I showed them a short video clip from the website and they all started saying, "I will give my $20," "I will give my $12." This is the second thing that touch me. Our kids have been saving this money for a long time but were immediately willing to give it all to some children they don't know at all. They just knew the kids needed help. Everyone donated a little and it added up to more.



I then thought, what can I do? The charity: water website was very helpful in pointing out a few things I could do. One suggestion was to give away your birthday. Instead of receiving presents, have people donate to your own water project. So, I have asked everyone to donate here instead of give me birthday presents this year. I am asking everyone to take a moment and consider if they can donate a little to help bring fresh water to those without.

Thank you.
http://mycharitywater.org/bbq

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Barnes & Noble recently had a sale on their own series of classic literature books so I bought a few. I started reading The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and had a very hard time putting it down. I was very impressed at Mr. Stevenson's command of language. His word choice and composition made the book very enjoyable. It was quick to read but carried with it very full imagery.

The overall metaphor and discussion about the dual personality of man was rich. In my view he captured that struggle that everyone has as we live life. Without suggesting how we should act he was able to very powerfully describe how and why we act the way we do. I think this is a very effective way to teach, explain the way things are and what consequences there may be and let people choose for themselves.

As Dr. Jekyll wrote explaining what was happening to him, he used the word liberty a few times in his description of Mr. Hyde's behavior. I found this to be a very accurate description of peoples thinking, though, personally, I think it is a short sited mistake in their thinking. For example, Dr. Jekyll describes his feelings at the beginning of his experiment by saying, "I was the first that could plod in the public eye with a load of genial respectability, and in a moment, like a schoolboy, strip off these lendings and spring headlong into the sea of liberty." He felt that by shedding the respectable side of his person he was now more free to act in any way he wanted to. Later in his experiment he discovers that he likes the respectable side of his person better, but still states that his other side has more liberty. "Yes, I preferred the elderly and discontented doctor, surrounded by friends and cherishing honest hopes; and bade a resolute farewell to the liberty, the comparative youth, the light step, leaping impulses and secret pleasures, that I had enjoyed in the disguise of Hyde."

I think the overall story and life itself points to the fact that this definition of liberty is flawed. In the person of Dr. Jekyll he had the power to be either Jekyll or Hyde. But in the person of Mr. Hyde he lost all his freedom. He describes himself as by saying that "his terror of the gallows drove him continually to commit temporary suicide, and return to his subordinate station of a part instead of a person; but he loathed the necessity." Mr. Hyde began to appear even when Dr. Jekyll did not want him to and soon he could not be controlled at all. In the end he committed suicide showing that he had no liberty at all because he chose to live as Mr. Hyde.

Real life is the same in that as we chose good we gain more liberty not less. And as we choose poorly we lose our liberty; we become trapped and unhappy. We often look at behaviors displayed in the world and in the media thinking that we are trapped because we cannot act in that way. This is a misconception. We can act that way, but as Dr. Jekyll found out, it only looks like it would be liberating. In reality it may be exciting or pleasurable for a short time, but it will not bring lasting happiness, only misery.

A Memory

Wrestling is a genetic trait among Jones boys. Countless hours have be spent practicing, running, sweating, starving, aching, suffering. For some reason it was all counted as fun. Practice often included running sprints about 5:30 AM, running for lunch, 3-4 hours of actual practice time after school, and running in the evening.¹ It was a bit grueling, but again, somehow it was all counted as fun.
On one particular night after a very hard match, which included the usual black eyes and split lips, I sat down in the recliner in the living room to rest. I don't remember why, but for some reason Mom volunteered to massage my feet. I gladly accepted. They hurt. In fact, everything hurt. Mom quietly and tenderly work out the tension and pain of my sore muscles. I probably fell asleep due to the relief...or the Ibuprofen.

The significance of this simple act of service was certainly not understood or appreciated as it should have been at the time. Years later though it has often brought to mind the simple act of the savior as he sat with those he loved most. “[Jesus] riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.” Mom understood what the Savior meant when he said, “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Countless hours of service. No visible reward.

I suppose the true significance of this act of service came into view as new little feet came into my own home. Each pair of feet needing special care and attention. I only hope that I can serve as thoughtfully as those who have left such great examples to look on.

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1. Spitting is gross. Besides if you can spit, you aren't running enough or dieting right.

Pointing at myself

There has been lots of blame passed around about who is at fault for the current economic problems in America. There is one group that no one seems to be looking at. That group is the general citizenry. It seems that politicians won't point at the masses because they would no longer be politicians. The media won't point at the masses because people would quit listening to them. Economists won't even point at the masses.

As a people, we are too focused on having things, and having more of them. We are constantly wanting to buy more things, even if we don't have enough money for them. We want better and nicer things even though what we have would suffice just fine.  BusinessWeek has written a few articles that explain some of the problems with our over zealous consumerism. It is interesting to note that the last article I linked to was published about two years ago. Michael Mandel concluded in one of his articles by stating, "Americans attempted to maintain the growth rate of living standards after 2000, even after income growth slowed for many people and real wage growth turn negative." In other words, we continued to spend money as we always had even though we were making less. Lots of things contributed to the current economic problems, but I think much of the problem does lie with us.

Personally, I am glad the price of gas has sky rocketed and the price of homes has plummeted. I hope these things are a bit of a wake up call for us. I know it has given me a chance to look at my finances and reprioritize a few things. It has also helped me look at what I can do to be less wasteful. I think in general as a society we have been living at a level beyond our means and it is time to get back to reality. Greed, lust, pride, and envy have been leading this country too long. I think it is time to get back to caring and sharing. Perhaps the single best cure for the current state of the economy would be for everyone to take a little time and money and set them aside for those who are less fortunate. I think that would give everyone a little better perspective. This new perspective would in turn decrease our desire to have more things for the sake of having them, thus allowing us to bring ourselves out of the current, self created, debtors prison in which we all currently reside.

Doing Something

I was reading in the Book of Mormon this morning where Alma the Younger is telling his son Helaman about his conversion. I had an interesting thought as I read and compared this experience to that of Paul in the New Testament and to my own life. I ofter hear in Sunday School classes people wonder at why someone so wicked would have the experience of seeing an angel while other more righteous people did not get that chance. I think the question though not stated is, "Why can't I see an angel. I am more righteous than Paul was."

My thoughts don't generally come to me in a linear format so it is hard to write them out in such a way, but I will do my best. The specific verse that triggered my thoughts was Alma 36:5, the end of which states, "but God has, by the mouth of his holy angel, made these things known unto me, not of any worthiness of myself." The first thing to note is that Alma recognizes that he did nothing to deserve his salvation. He received his salvation through the grace of Christ. I noted here that I receive salvation the same way. This means, that no matter how good or bad we are, we all receive salvation through the grace of Christ, and not by "any worthiness of [ourselves]."

This idea that we are all "unworthy creatures" put me on level ground with Saul and Alma before their conversion. This led me to wonder what it was that made both of these men such worthy candidates for direct correction. I think the main strength of these men was their diligence in doing what they thought was right. Their course was wrong but they went full force down the path they deemed appropriate. Paul even went to the extreme of rounding up the christian heretics so they could be executed.

These men were primed to do the work of God. They were very active in their governments and communities. They were very good and organizing and leading people. They were great at teaching and persuasion. They had every thing they needed except the truth and little direction. God was able to then very easily give that to them.

Many people of their day had the truth already, but they did very little with it. They were energized to get up and do something. I suspect that God had lots of reasons for choosing these great men to lead in His church, but perhaps on of them is that they were already leading. Perhaps it is easier to get an misguided but energized person to change course than it is to get a correctly focused slothful person to become energized.

This has made me think a lot recently about where I stand. I recall the words that John wrote to the Laodiceans, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." It seams that the Lord would have us be "anxiously engaged." I have had to think a lot recently about what I am engaged in. There is a lot going on in the world right now. There is no shortage of good causes in which to help. I guess it is time to stop thinking and time to start doing.

Mt Nebo Hike

I made it to the top of Nebo! I went with Nate and Matt, who are friends from work. It was a very fun hike. I was out of shape and it turned out to be a bit painful as well. For the last few days it has been very hard to get down stairs. I feel like I have been given a large series of shots all in my thighs. In other words, I am very sore. But that is OK. Candace has been very good to take care of me. I have been saying lately that Bianca is learning about consequences, now Candace is telling me that Daddy is learning about consequences. But enough of that business, on to the hike.

Nebo has 3-4 peaks depending on how you define it. There is the north peak, the center peak (which is the tallest), and south peak. Between the south peak and the center peak is another peak that stands just about a hundred feet shorter than south peak. For lack of a better name, I called this peak the "almost south peak."

We hiked up the north peak trail and reached the top of Nebo in a little over 2 hours. The trail is beautiful though pretty much straight up. Much of the trail has nice cover from the fir trees. The picture to the left is of Nate and I on the north peak trail. The trail leads up the ridge you can see behind us in the picture. It then moves behind the north peak and continues up to the summit.

From the summit our plan was to traverse the ridge from the top of Nebo to the south peak. This is the part of the trail that was not really a trail at all. There was no maps saying it was possible, but we had read of people doing it. So, that was our plan. Get up there, figure out how to get across and then come down the other side of the mountain following the south peak trail.

As you can see from the remaining pictures this turned out to be a little more technically challenging than we expected. The ridge in places was literally less than a foot wide and a few hundred feet down on both sides. It was a very fun hike, but with my fear of heights, I spent most of the climb on both my hands and feet moving quite slowly. The approximately one mile between peaks took us a little over two hours to traverse. This included about a half hour of deliberation on whether we should continue on or turn back. At one point the trail went straight down for about 100 feet and was covered in loose shale. Of course one can easily sit down and slide to the bottom, but it was unclear whether we could get back up the other side of the trail or not. From where we sat, it looked very steep and nearly impassable. Finally Nate decided the only way to know was to go look. So down the trail he went. In a few minutes he yells back that the trail look fairly easy to climb. So down we go. The impassable trail was relatively easy to cover. In another half hour or so we were on the top of the south peak.

By this time my legs were killing me. I was dead tired. I no longer wanted to climb anything. My lack of preparation through out the summer was shining through. I didn't even want to stand up for a photo op. I just sat on a rock and rested...hoping my body would forgive me for torturing it. I am writing this four days after the hike. My thighs are still killing me.

The trail down the south side of Nebo was nice. The were lots of wild flowers and other plants that lined the trail. It was fairly steep and about twice as long as the trail up the north side. Going up the north side and down the south side was definitely the right way to go.  By the time we got down I just wanted to sit down, but my legs hurt so bad that it was hard to do.

After an hour drive home, a warm shower, and dinner, I spent the night...hiking. Grandpa and Grandma were in town and we had free tickets to see the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. So we all went and walked around some very beautiful gardens for the evening. It was wonderful, but I sure slept well that night.

I learned a lot of things from this hike. I learned about consequences and preparation. But I think the most poignant thing that I learned was about perspective. The pictures you see give a glimpse of what we saw as we hiked, but they lack perspective. It is hard to tell from the pictures what the mountain was really like. Each hike I go on I notice that things change dramatically based on where I am at on the trail. The same mountain or the same valley may look completely different from a different point on the trail. As we sat and wondered if the trail to the south peak was passable or not the trail looked very steep and dangerous. As we drew nearer to the actual place we had to climb it became simple. I think in life we need to take the time to look at things from different perspectives. We need to see things from different angles before we pass judgment. Before we decide to turn back, before we decide to avoid a challenge, we need to move in close and find out what is really before us.

You can find more pictures of the hike in Matt's picassa web album.

Big Bang

I read a poem a few days ago that really got me thinking. I didn't realize how influenced I had been by the educational system, and the current thinking of the time. The poem is from the children's book, Science Verse, by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith. It is titled, 'Twas The Night.

'Twas the night before Any Thing, and all through deep space,

Nothing existed-time, matter, or place.

No stockings, no chimneys. It was hotter than hot.

Everything was compressed in one very dense dot.

When out of the nothing there appeared with a clatter

A fat guy with reindeer and something the matter.

His nose was all runny. He gave a sick hack.

"Oh, Dasher! Oh, Dancer! I can't hold it back!"

He huffled and snuffled and sneezed one AH-CHOO!

Then like ten jillion volcanoes, the universe blew.

That dense dot exploded, spewing out starts,

Earth, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, and Mars,

Helium, hydrogen, the mountains and seas,

The chicken, the egg, the birds and the bees,

Yesterday's newspaper, tomorrow's burnt toast,

Protons and neutrons, your grandma's pork roast.

The universe expanded. The guy said with a wheeze,

"Who will ever believe the world started by sneeze?

So let's call it something much grander, all right?

Merry BIG BANG to all! And to all-Gesundheit!"

I thought this a very funny poem when I first read it. The irony was clear. A sneeze triggering the creation of the universe. Then I thought a little further. The irony was that I believed that the universe started as a tiny speck and is expanding due to the release of infinite mass and energy from an infinitely small point. As I thought even more, what I found to be most interesting was the fact the because the Big Bang is the best model that has been presented thus far, it is accepted as absolute truth by the masses, those who are not astrophysicists.

Is the universe expanding? There is a good chance. Is it certain? No. Could it be that the universe is orbiting, like everything else in the universe, and that we are moving away from the center right now in an elliptical movement. Maybe. I suspect this would give the appearance of expansion from a single point, given the extremely large orbit and our extremely small ability to observe. Perhaps the universe is expanding because a creator at the center is creating more. Maybe we don't understand what we are observing. It wouldn't be the first time. I suspect there are all sorts of other theories out in the world right now. Some much more extreme than what I just said, some much less extreme. My point being, lets not close our mind because we can not understand everything. Maybe everything did explode into existence, but we will never know the truth unless we keep our minds open and explore all possibilities.

Alexis de Toqueville stated, "I am unacquainted with [God's] designs, but I shall not cease to believe in them because I cannot fathom them, and I had rather mistrust my own capacity than His justice." I love this quote. I know God exists. I don't understand how He does everything, but that does not change the fact that He exists and is doing things that I don't understand. Not understanding why and how God does things seems like a poor reason not to believe in Him.

Well, just some random musings. I hope they almost make sense to someone. I know I exist. I know God exists. I know the universe exists. I think it was always here and is just being reorganize.

Six Steps to Maximize your Disneyland Trip (for those who have never been and don't want to go)

I did not go as a child. I did not want to go as an adult. The whole thought of taking my children there and listening to them complain as we waited in long lines for very short thrills all the while having people try to sell me noisy, cheap, plastic replicas of things did not sound appealing at all. Candace had very fond memories of going to Disneyland as a child and as a teenager. Candace has been planning a Disneyland trip for quite a few years and I have been reluctantly agreeing to go...sometime.

The time finally came. I could not prevent it any longer. I am writing this as Candace drives the current leg of our 12 hour drive back home from a great week at Disneyland. It took quite a while (years) for me to overcome my prejudice. I never got to the point where I really wanted to go to Disneyland, but I did decide not to hate the trip before I went. Not quite a open mind, but not completely closed. Here is my first step for maximizing your Disneyland trip. Keep and open mind. It might be fun.

FastPass, ChildPass, Disneyland guide books, planning schedules, hours of the day, days of the week, months of the year. You can find all sorts of statistical analysis determining the most effective way to traverse the paths leading from one ride to another. Decrease walking, Increase riding. As far as I could tell from talking to everyone that had already been to Disneyland, that was the key to having fun at Disneyland. I beg to differ. We walked all over Disneyland, saw all sorts of things, rode most of the rides (most only once). We just walked from place to place. Not in a hurry at all. Most of the rides were not too busy anyway. We didn't wait over 15-20 minutes for any rides. If it was too long a line we might get a FastPass, or we might just go to a different ride or play area. There is lots to see. We were there for three days and probably did not see a quarter of the park. Since the point is not to see everything and do everything, it is to have fun together as a family, we didn't even try to see everything. We just had fun where ever we were. So this is my second step to maximize your Disneyland trip. Don't try to see everything or do everything. Just move at the speed your family can have fun going.

Annmarie's favorite ride was the bus. She loved riding the bus to and from Disneyland. She cried when she saw the bus drive away one morning before we were ready to go. As we tried to hurry to get ready so we would not miss the bus, everything went crazy. Everyone started yelling at each other to call the elevator up, and to get their shoes, and to comb the last head of hair. The tension increased dramatically in a matter of moments. Instead of continuing this we all stopped, came back in the room, slowed down, and finished getting the ready at our own speed. This is the point that the bus drove off and our youngest started crying because we missed the bus ride. Here is my third hint on maximizing your Disneyland trip. The buses come every 30 minutes or so. Don't run to their schedule. Catch the one that is available after you are ready to go. The waiting time is less than many of the rides. If you are really that concerned about it though, rent a hotel in the park.

The best ride I went on was the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride. On this ride to sit in a little tea cup that spins around with the pull of a joy stick. There are also two laser guns that you use to shoot at the evil Zurg's minions. If I had been alone on this ride it would not have been that great, but I rode this with Christian. Seeing his wide eyes and excitement at shooting the bad guys made this the best ride ever. Christian was too small to enjoy most of the rides, but this was just his thing and he reveled in it. Yes, we even bought him his own cheep plastic astro blaster that lights up and makes noise. My fourth step to maximize your Disneyland trip is to enjoy your children. Even if Disneyland is not that exciting to you, your children can be.

I learned one very important thing on this trip. While we were having breakfast one morning our waiter brought us some Orange Juice. He brought cups with lids for the children. Then the magic happened. He grabbed a straw and pulled off one end of the wrapper then stabbed the straw into the cup. Cannon promptly told him that he left half of the straw wrapper on the straw. It was great! Now I know how to easily get the wrapper off of a straw. The fifth point...you can enjoy things that are not in the park as well.

Now for the sixth and last point. Disneyland is a business. It is going to take a lot of your money. Expect it. Accept it. It is OK to spend a lot of money very quickly every once in a while. The tickets cost $60 per person. Each meal in the park is going to cost $6-7 per person. There is also the cost of travel and lodging. In the end it is going to cost a few thousand dollars to make a trip to Disneyland. Don't begrudge the cost or it will ruin the entire trip. Disneyland is providing a service that you are paying for. You may be paying an excessive price, but you made the decision to do it and it is OK. Have fun at Disneyland!

The trip really was fun. It was a little stressful trying to keep track of the kids all the time with so much going on in every direction. There was a fair amount of whining from the kids...and the adults. But overall it was very fun.  Here is a slideshow of our trip.

Barn Raising

Grandpa left a couple of presure treated 4×4 posts at our house a couple of months ago. I kept looking at them thinking it was a waste to have them just sitting on the ground. What could I do with them? The best thing I could think of was to build a shed. So it was off to Home Depot… A few hundred dollars later and a quite a few hours (spread over a few months) later and I almost have a shed to put my gardening stuff in.

So I really didn’t/don’t know how to build a shed. I just started asking questions to people who I thought might know something about it. I learned a lot from talking to them and then started hammering nails into some boards. It is going pretty well. The real problem is that I don’t have any time to work on it during the day, and it gets dark by 5:00 now. So Saturday is the only real time I have to work on it. Well, I will persevere and hopefully have it done before Christmas!